Tag Archives: neutering

“Hi guys! My name is Tom! I was a cute little thing when I was a kitten, well, that’s what the humans used to say. I wouldn’t let them touch me though. I would do like my mother and run away when they would approach and would only come back to eat the food they put down for us.

Then I grew up and I started to get interested in girls, so I hit the road looking for some. Oh boy! These were the good times! Always on the road going from place to place to meet the girls. Sometimes, the humans would be nice and throw me a bit of chicken, but often they would just chase me with a broom, screaming ‘dirty tom’. It’s not my fault if I sprayed a little, I had to mark my territory for other cats. I used to love visiting the farm: there were plenty of girls and I would drink that nice white liquid; it tasted so good! But I wouldn’t stay for too long and would keep travelling. I didn’t even have time to go hunting during the summers; I was a busy boy! I got into some pretty bad fights though. We all wanted the same girls, so we had to fight for them. Sometimes I’d lose, sometimes I’d win, especially when fighting with the sick cats, they weren’t very strong and would quickly give up, but I got some bad bites. At the end of the summers, I would be exhausted and hungry from all the travelling. So I would just visit all my favourite spots to get some food and rest, and play with the mice a little. But as soon as it would get warmer and the days would get longer, I was off again! Back on the road!

Then, one winter, I caught a bad cold. Usually, it would go away with food and rest, but I wasn’t very hungry. When the days got warmer, I started travelling again, but I was weak and didn’t have the energy anymore. I found a nice garden with some shelter and I sat there as I was in so much pain. The woman of the house started to give me all types of food, it smelled nice and I would eat a little, but it hurt my teeth and my throat. I could hear her say ‘skin and bones’ all the time.

One day, another woman came with some strange box with bars on it. She put a lot of nice smelly food in it, but I couldn’t eat. Then she poured some of the sweet white liquid we had at the farm, except that it came from a bottle. I forced myself to stand up to have a bit of that as it reminded me so much of the good old days. When I went in the box, I heard a noise. I turned around, but I couldn’t get out. When the woman approached, I tried to fight but didn’t have the energy. And then it was dark and I calmed down.

The box moved and me with it. Then I heard the strange noise moving objects make. Next thing, there were other faces looking at me; I heard them say ‘Poor boy!’. I felt something stinging me and I dozed off. I could hear their voices though, words like ‘disease’, ’emaciated’, ‘not grooming’, ‘virus’, ‘aids’. Then the girl with the box was back. She started to rub my head. It was strange, I had never been touched by a human before, but I didn’t care. She was saying that it would be ok, that I wouldn’t be suffering anymore and that I would go to a better place (maybe she meant the farm?). I felt a prick and some tingling in my veins. Then, I couldn’t see the faces anymore, I couldn’t hear their voices and the pain was gone…”

***

“Hi folks! My name is Harry! I’m Tom’s cousin. I was like Tom when I was young, always running after the girls. I guess I was luckier than him though as I found a nice garden. The woman of the house would always give me some nice tasty food and would call me ‘handsome’. There were some girls there too, but they had no interest in me. Oh, it was ok, I would wander to look for others, but I would always come back to the garden with nice food, where I could have a snooze too.

One day, a woman came, she had a box made of bars. She put some food in it. I went to check, but I wasn’t that hungry that I would go in that strange box. Then she put another box out, with more food. It was bigger and I started to feel hungry, so I went in. I heard something slamming. When the woman approached, I tried to run away, but I couldn’t escape. Then it got dark and I heard the noise moving objects make.

Next thing, I could hear new voices and I felt something stinging me. I went off to sleep. When I woke up, I was feeling really strange, a bit groggy and as if something was missing. I saw the face of the woman with the box and again we were in the moving object. When it stopped, it felt very familiar around me. The light came back and I could recognise the garden I liked so much. I ran away, but when the woman with the box was gone, I came back for some nice food. Tasty!

I went looking for the girls again, but it wasn’t the same, so I lost interest and decided to stay in the garden with nice food. I would lie in the warm sun and if it rained I had a little house where I could stay dry. To pass the time, I would play with the mice. The woman of the house would bring me food a few times a day and I loved it, so I started to run towards her and would rub against her legs. One day, she moved her hand towards me and touched my head. It felt really strange. She kept doing it and eventually I got used to it and I even started to like it. Poor old Tom, he had such a rough life! It’s a pity he didn’t find a nice garden like mine!”

Don’t ignore tom cats; give them a chance to have a good life by having them neutered. By having tom cats neutered, you are reducing the spread of diseases and viruses, such as FIV (feline AIDS) and FeLV (Feline Leukemia). Neutered tom cats will live longer and are less likely to roam, fight and spray.

We usually dread these calls as they end by asking us to take in the kitten as they cannot keep it in for a reason or another (kids, work, dog, cats, and so on). Since we are not a rescue and that most rescues are full, there is usually very little we can do.But this time, we were wrong! We were talking to a real rescuer, someone willing to take responsibility and to do what was best for the kitten. All she wanted was some advice. Well, when people are willing to make an effort, we are even more eager to help them. We explained the importance of neutering before rehoming, of doing a homecheck, of asking for an adoption donation to make the adopter responsible and so on, and offered to help with these as best as we could and to provide some supplies too.

Two days later, we were picking up the kitten to have him neutered and microchipped. To our surprise, the little kitten was in the living room, when the house dog had been confined to the yard! We brought back the kitten after recovery, with a few goodies that she could give to the adopter. He has since been adopted by a nice family, whom the rescuer is confident will look after him well.

If there were more people like this lady, Ireland would definitely be a better place for cats….

The carer fills the assessment form on site or has sent it back to us.

We arrive on site at feeding time to visually assess the colony.

We discuss the financial cost of the neutering with the carer.

We explain the trapping procedure.

We arrange a trapping date with the carer.

Arranging the neutering and veterinary care:

The CCN welfare officer makes contact with the nearest partner vet to the colony to arrange a time and date for the neutering.

The physical health of the colony is discussed with the vet or the veterinary nurse.

Extra treatment will be discussed when the vet has assessed the cats in surgery.

The trapping:

Depending on the number of cats to be trapped the Community Cats Network welfare officer decides what traps and cages to bring.

The CCN welfare officer arrives 30 minutes before feeding time to set up the traps.

The cats are trapped humanely and transferred into feral cat handling cages.

The carer signs the Community Cats Network consent form.

Depending on the time when trapped and availability of vets, the cats are either taken straight to the vets or held overnight to be taken to the vets the following morning.

If the cats are held overnight they are transferred into humane comfortable cages with food water and litter for the cats’ comfort and welfare.

Hospitalisation cage in the opened position to show the bedding & feeding area.

Veterinary treatment and neutering:

The CCN welfare officer transfers the cats back into the transport cages and bring them to the allocated vets.

The transport cages have information on each cage pertaining to that specific cat. The veterinary nurse or vet will complete the forms once the surgery has been completed.

In the veterinary surgery the feral cats are transferred into a cat restrainer cage to make it safer for the veterinary practice to sedate the cat and cause less stress on the cat.

Once the sedative has taken effect the cat is taken out of the cage and given a full health check. The cat’s mouth, ears, teeth, eyes, legs, pads and body are checked for any anomalies or abnormalities.

If any abnormalities are found the CCN welfare officer is contacted immediately by the vet to discuss further actions.

If everything is normal the surgery continues

Female cats will be spayed on the left flank – this is always the left hand side of the body. It provides faster access to the organs being removed. The female will have her uterus and ovaries removed to fully ensure that procreation can never take place. Spaying also removes the possibilities of life threatening uterine infections. Additionally, it also greatly reduces the risk of developing potentially fatal mammary tumors later in life.

Male cats will be castrated. Both testicles will be removed. This will remove their ability and want to mate with females of the species. Neutered male cats become less likely to fight after neutering and are less likely to become involved in fights, resulting in bite injuries and the risk of contracting viral infections. Sexual contact in cats can also lead to transmission of deadly viruses.

Both female and male cats are left ear-tipped. This is a universal method indicating the neutered status of a cat.

All cats in our care receive a flea and a worm treatment.

Eartipped cat.

Post-operative care:

The CCN welfare officer collects the cats from the vets after surgery.

The cats are put back into the hospitalisation cages with clean bedding, water and food.

The males are kept for a minimum of 16 hours after surgery and females 24 hours.

The cats are checked post-op on an average of every 2 to 3 hours to make sure the bedding is clean and they are recovering well.

The carer is contacted to make arrangement to return the cats.

Returning the cats:

The cats are transferred back into the transport cages and returned to the carer.

The carer receives a quantity of food, CCN’s feral cat aftercare handbook and a photographic and health journal of their cats.

Sterilisation of the equipment:

After the return of the cats the CCN welfare office has to clean and sterilise all the equipment: traps, transport cages, hospitalisation cages and holding area used for the specific colony to avoid contaminating the next colony or transferring infection.

Feral cats colony information:

The CCN welfare officer inputs all the information that they have gathered about the colony into our computerised database.

Photos and descriptions are then uploaded to our Facebook page.

CCN welfare officers are always available for contact with the carer at any stage.

Phone rings… “Hi, last winter, a stray cat came to my garden. It was cold and I felt sorry for her, so I started feeding her. You know, I would hate to see an animal suffer. Then, in March, she had a litter of kittens, but it was fine, the farmer down the road took all four of them! But, at the beginning of the summer, she had another litter of kittens. 7 of them! And now, I think she is pregnant again and I can’t find homes for the kittens. I don’t mind feeding her as she keeps the mice away, but I can’t possibly keep all of them. I don’t know what to do, can you please help?”

Sounds familiar?

This is a very common type of call received by animal welfare organisations and our answer is simply to have the cat and her kittens neutered straight away before the situation gets completely out of hand. We discuss with the carer a way to finance the project and proceed to have the whole family neutered. Then, maybe a couple of kittens may find a home, but at least they won’t be having kittens. The problem is solved, but is it really?

Let’s rewind a little, back to spring time: “it was fine, the farmer down the road took all four of them!” The alarm bell in my head is ringing! Now, were those kittens neutered before going to the farm? Did the farmer get them neutered? The answer is more than likely no.

Now, let’s fast-forward to the following spring. The farmer is happy, his little cats (3 females and a male) are doing a good job on the farm. In April though, all three females give birth to a litter of kittens each. It is their first litter and they only have two kittens each. “Sure,” the farmer thinks, “a few more cats might come in handy; I have a big farm! And maybe Jo will take a couple for his own farm.” It’s still all fine, isn’t it? Yes, except that during the summer, they give birth to more kittens, and again at the beginning of winter, except that those mostly die because of the severe weather.

Two years later, the farmer is looking at all the cats on his farm. There are so many of them that he cannot feed them properly anymore. His three little female cats have become useless at killing the rats and mice as they are so exhausted from giving birth, as for the tom, he is constantly chasing the females and has been seen at all the neighbouring farms. Their offsprings are no good either, they have also started giving birth constantly, and now the younger generations are all sickly because they are inbred. The farmer is looking at all the cats (he can’t even count how many there are) and is scratching his head “what to do?”. He must admit that he did try to drown the kittens like his father and his grand-father used to do, but the females are very good at hiding the kittens in the hay, and to be honest, he likes the cats and does not want to harm them. Maybe he should bring them to the vet to have them euthanised? But, he cannot even catch the cats; they have gone completely wild! He’ll talk to the vet though and see what he thinks…

The vet is not too keen on having animals euthanised like that and if the farmer can’t catch the cats, how could he? He’s heard of organisations doing Trap-Neuter-Return though, maybe they could help? So the farmer gets in touch with such an organisation. At first, he has a fit when he hears what it will cost, but it has to stop, and he needs his cats to be healthy so that they can do their job on the farm. All the cats and kittens get trapped, most of them are neutered, but a few have to be euthanised as they are too sick. They come back to the farm and a few weeks later, they look a lot healthier and the farm is once more clear of rats. The farmer is still giving out at the vet bill, but he is glad that things have now gone back to normal. Next time, he’ll make sure that the cats are neutered beforehand. “Now, if only Jo could do the same thing on his farm, because how many does he have now? A good 30 for sure!”

Can you remember what the caller said initially? “I would hate to see an animal suffer.” Of course, she hadn’t realised what would happen as the farmer is a good guy and wouldn’t harm an animal, but by rehoming unneutered kittens, she has unknowingly been responsible for a great deal of suffering. Or maybe she thought that it wasn’t her problem? How about when the cats start to wander away from the farm because there isn’t any food and start to come to her garden where she is still feeding the little stray, the mother of them all? Does it become her problem then?

Websites are full of “Kittens Free to Good Home” ads, but what does it really mean?

I think that in the work we do, convincing people to have kittens neutered before rehoming is actually the biggest challenge. Sometimes, it’s just because they don’t know that kittens can be neutered at such an early age (see info here), but most of the time, they don’t see the point since they are going to find “good homes” for the kittens. Why should it be their responsibility? Times and times again, we explain that if these are actually good homes, then the adopter will not mind giving a donation to cover for the cost of neutering. In fact, they are quite happy to do so since it saves them the bother of having to bring the kittens. In other cases, they think that it is not their problem since the cat isn’t actually theirs. Maybe so, but we all need to start taking responsibility if we want to put a stop to the problem of cat over-population. It is not one individual’s problem, it actually has become a society’s problem and we all need to start taking responsibility.

Disclaimer: the story above is fictional, although it is based on real experiences. It wasn’t written with the intention of criticising anyone, but rather with the intention of educating. Take responsibility too: educate those around you and spread the word about the importance of neutering!

We received a call this week about a one year old cat that a woman has been feeding for about 6 months. She noticed last week that he had a wound on his coat. However, the wound hadn’t improved and she then noticed a 2nd wound. She had also noticed that his coat did not look as well as before and that his behaviour had changed. She was asking us for help because she could not bare to see an animal suffer.

We explained how we worked and that we would be happy to come to trap the cat and have him assessed by a vet. However, the minute money was mentioned she became very annoyed and replied that it was not her cat and that she would not be able to afford the vet bills. We agreed with this, but explained the concept of community cats and that there are thousands and thousands of cats like the one she feeds in her garden and that it is up to every single one of us to take responsibility for these cats.

Seafield at home

We decided to go over and see how we could help this poor fellow. The trap was set and the waiting game began. After an hour, the cat finally made his appearance and was trapped. It was getting dark, but we could see the wounds in his thick coat.

As we explained the process – that the cat would be brought to the vet for assessment and that he would be treated and neutered, if feasible for a feral cat, before being returned to her after recovery – she once more became agitated at the idea of having him back, claiming “But you don’t understand! It’s not my cat!”. We once more had to clarify what feral cats were and how they lived; we highlighted that the cat would not do well in confinement, that he was at home in her estate and that all he was asking for from her was a bit of food. She ultimately agreed for the cat to come back and we hit the road to set him up for the night.

Seafield’s wounds, probably caused by fighting with other toms over the females

The following morning, Seafield, as I chose to name him, went to see Sinead at the Cloyne Veterinary Clinic. After being sedated, Sinead shaved his back and a number of wounds became apparent. Seafield must have been fighting over the females with other tom cats and had received many bites, which had created abscesses. Sinead cleaned the wounds cautiously and gave him a long acting antibiotic, assuring me that it would heal well. She then proceeded to neuter him, which should reduce his fighting behaviour and enable him to live a happier life.

Seafield’s wounds are healing well

After two nights of recovery, Seafield was returned to his environment. He was getting restless in his cage and it was an obvious relief for him to get back “home”. When released, he followed his usual path to the fields at the back of the estate. The woman knew exactly which trajectory he would take and she was right. Whether she wanted it or not, Seafield was home. This was the place where he had chosen to live. On his way to freedom, Seafield paused for a minute and turned around to look at us as if to say thank you. It was the right thing to do and we hope now that Seafield will live a happy life.

Seafield is like thousands of other cats in Ireland, he is a nobody’s cat. Yet, we all need to take responsibility for them if we do not want to see them suffer. If we all turn a blind eye, kittens will keep being born, many of which dying before they reach their 1st year. If they are lucky enough to reach that age, like Seafield, they may end up injured or ill, with nobody to watch over them. Seafield is lucky as his wounds weren’t life-threatening and someone actually asked for help for him, thus giving him the dignity he deserves, but others will just die unnoticed. It takes time and a lot of effort, and it requires funds, but you may agree with us that it is worth it.

If you would like to support Seafield and help us to continue neutering cats to prevent suffering, please consider making a donation, no matter how small as it all helps to offer a better life for the ferals. You can also sponsor a feral cat and help us to care for other cats like Seafield for just €1/week (see more details here).

On behalf of all the ferals, we thank you for your help and compassion.